Page 1 NEW ORLEANS MOSQUITO & TERMITE CONTROL BOARD JANUARY-FEBRUARY-MARCH REPORT 2004 2006 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR’S REPORT The following 2006 Annual Report includes the months of November & Decem- ber, 2006. The years 2005 and 2006 will be remembered as two of the most challenging years in the history of organized mosquito in New Orleans. As I write this, our administrative staff and some scientific and management staff are housed in a temporary FEMA trailer next to the Levee Board administration 6601 Stars & Stripes Blvd. building on Franklin Avenue at the Lake. New Orleans, LA 70126 Our Lakefront Airport facilities remain severely damaged or destroyed. The ad- ministration building is scheduled for demolition. The Rodent Control Building (504) 658-2400 has been demolished and the property has reverted back to the Port Authority. We are continuing negotiations with FEMA on rebuilding our facilities. The cul- mination of these efforts will likely take two or more years. The dedication of our staff has been extraordinary, especially in light of the fact CITY OF NEW ORLEANS that our workload and defined responsibilities have increased significantly. We Mayor C. Ray Nagin are all looking forward to the more normal pace of activities we enjoyed before Dr. Brenda Hatfield, CAO the hurricane and flood. Dr. Michael K. Carroll, Director Dr. Claudia Riegel, Asst. Director I also state without reservation the we have had unwavering support from the Mr. Edgar Bordes, Director Emeritus Mayor’s Office, the Chief Administrative Office and the entire City Council. Thank you so much. B O A R D M E M B E R S Dr. Rodney Jung, Chairman Two thousand seven saw the retirement of the largest number of employees in Dr. Dawn Wesson our program’s history. Alphabetically they are Wayne Arceneaux, Mosquito Dr. Kenneth Boutte Control Inspector IV (40 years); Edgar Bordes, Director (40 years); Doug Guth- Mr. Reginald Glass Dr. Warren Jones rie, Mosquito Control Inspector IV (41 years); Brooks Hartman, Source reduc- Mr. Gary C. Meadows tion Supervisor (40 years); and Joe Yurt, Director of Rodent Control (36 years). Dr. Kevin Stephens Ms. Ann Macdonald By year’s end we were short-staffed in all of our programs. Our “veteran” full- time Mosquito Control Inspector, namely Mr. Princeton King, marked his six- A D V I S O R S month anniversary in December. Starting salaries and a greatly reduced pool of Dr. Harold Scott potential employees have made hiring and retention one of our prime goals. Mr. Earl Perry It is impossible to summarize, with all due credit, the 2006 accomplishments of our staff, so please accept this as a prologue to reports that follow: The biggest mosquito biocontrol program in the history of our country started this year. Thousands of unkempt swimming pools, backyard ponds and saunas were located, inspected, databased and treated with a bacterial biocontrol agent and stacked with mosquitofish. This effort was featured on TV’s Discovery (Continued on page 2) 2006 ANNUAL REPORT Page 2 (Continued from page 1) Channel program, “Dirty Jobs”, in the fall. Fish survival and larval control continue to be outstanding. We are working with the public, the State, and FEMA on long term resolution of this serious mosquito breed- ing potential. Our first human case of West Nile virus was confirmed in late July. As such a statement is, it appeared to be a “normal” year. It also looks as if WNV will continue to be a yearly occurrence, especially as we are still trying to determine finer points of the disease cycle. Southeast Louisiana, including New Orleans, experienced one of the largest broods of saltmarsh mosqui- toes (Aedes sollicitans) in the past 25 years. Our physical landscape as well as our mosquito species mix has changed dramatically. We have not yet been able to access the irreparable damage to many years of urban and marsh source reduction projects. Aerial spraying continues at above average historical levels. As of this writing, the Britten-Norman Islander twin-engine spray plane is out of service for major engine modifications. We are continuing to rebuild our termite control program. Most of the electronic detection equipment was lost to the storm. Much of this has been replaced, and cooperative operational research activities have re- sumed. Many lay persons assume that the vast subterranean population would be severely affected by the weeks of saltwater in the city; that didn’t happen. Previous field projects have resumed and new projects have been added. Also, the French Quarter Operation Full Stop was mostly unaffected by the storm. The accomplishments of our internationally recognized Termite Division are far too numerous to even touch on here. These details and products are well elaborated on in the body of this report. 2006 ANNUAL REPORT Page 3 MOSQUITO FIELD OPERATIONS STEVE SACKETT Two thousand and six was a year of post-Katrina re- New Orleans and the surrounding area experienced one covery efforts that were a testimony to the dedication of the largest broods of saltmarsh mosquitoes, Aedes of our staff. With the help of volunteers from the faith- sollicitans, in recent history. These aggressive daytime based organization, Operation Blessing, we were able biters spread throughout the city, causing telephone to locate and treat almost all of the abandoned swim- complaints to significantly increase. It appears that hur- ming pools in the city (see Bio Control section). Fol- ricane Katrina contributed to the elevated populations low-up inspections of the pools indicate that mosquito of saltmarsh mosquitoes by removing marsh grasses production was eliminated from pools stocked with and exposing soil where mosquito egg deposition takes minnows, and that fish survival and reproduction were place. Large quantities of silt were also deposited on outstanding. In addition to dealing with mosquito land masses by the storm, providing additional oviposi- breeding in abandoned pools, inspectors and volunteers tion sites. Adulticiding operations were conducted took on the task of treating or removing thousands of when environmental conditions allowed. water-filled containers that were found at abandoned houses. Over 200,000 packets of mosquito repellent were do- nated to us by Cutter Repellents to be distributed to our Our staff have also been very diligent in repairing our citizens to aid in reducing mosquito bites. Civic asso- damaged buildings and the equipment needed to keep ciations, city departments, and private citizens were all our organization running. Our recovery continues. eligible to receive the donated repellent. The first human case of West Nile virus in New Or- leans for 2006 was confirmed on July 28 from Comet Street in Algiers. With five years of data, it appeared to be a “normal” year. Specific information parish by par- ish is available on the State of Louisiana Health De- partment’s website (www.dhh.louisiana.gov). Cases were limited to Algiers and the crescent area of the city. Multiple ground and aerial treatments were con- ducted city-wide to reduce mosquito populations and the probability of disease transmission. 2006 ANNUAL REPORT Page 4 ENCEPHALITIS SURVEILLANCE Steve Sackett Sentinel chickens were not utilized as a surveillance Table 1 illustrates the MIR’s for New Orleans, and tool to monitor mosquito-borne diseases this year for a it is interesting to note that our MIR went from 0 to number or reasons. Data now suggest that chickens are 7.8 within one week (first positive pool was col- not a good early warning system for WNV and other lected 7-07-06). Our first human WNV case was forms of encephalititis, as humans and chickens typi- confirmed on 7-28-06, so it is very feasible that the cally show first positives during the same time of year. infected bite occurred not long after the positive There were also concerns about the use of chickens mosquitoes were collected. with the threat of Asian bird flu approaching our coun- try. Our surveillance efforts were therefore directed Table II illustrates the positive pools for 2006, with towards collecting mosquitoes in specialized “gravid” information on dates, virus types, and mosquito spe- traps at sites throughout the city and sending the speci- cies. mens to the state laboratory for testing. Mosquitoes were grouped or “pooled” by species, and a positive pool indicated that at least one mosquito of that group had fed on an infected host (typically birds). Once the state lab tested the mosquitoes and sent results, a calcu- lation of the minimum infection rate (MIR) was done to estimate the number of virus-positive mosquitoes per thousand tested. Information from other districts indicated that transmission of WNV to humans typi- cally began to show up when MIR’s were above 6. TABLE I 2006 NEW ORLEANS MOSQUITO POOLS Minimum Infection Rate (MIR) Date of Collection # Positive Pools # Mosquitoes Tested MIR (All mosquitoes collected from 3-3-06 to 6-30-06 were negative) 7-07-06 2 256 7.8 7-13-06 4 336 11.9 7-20-06 4 333 12.0 7-28-06 1 113 8.8 8-04-06 1 102 9.8 8-11-06 5 176 28.4 8-18-06 2 90 22.2 8-25-06 4 315 12.7 9-01-06 1 86 11.6 9-08-06 2 284 7.0 9-14-06 0 141 0.0 9-22-06 1 269 3.7 9-29-06 0 80 0.0 10-06-06 0 155 0.0 10-13-06 0 79 0.0 10-20-06 0 32 0.0 10-27-06 0 50 0.0 END MOSQUITO POOL SAMPLING FOR 2006 2006 ANNUAL REPORT Page 5 TABLE ll POSITIVE MOSQUITO POOLS 2006 COLL.